SmartScreen

Many Web sites attempt to trick users into providing credit card numbers, typing user names and passwords, or installing malicious software. Some Web sites are so effective at this that they can successfully deceive even IT professionals and security experts.

Internet Explorer 8 includes SmartScreen, which communicates with a Microsoft Web service to check the integrity of sites before users visit them. If a site is listed as potentially malicious, Internet Explorer 8 warns users before allowing them to connect to the site.

You can enable or disable the SmartScreen filter using the Administrative Templates \Windows Components\Internet Explorer\Compatibility View\Turn Off Managing SmartScreen Filter Group Policy setting. If you enable this policy and set Select SmartScreen Filter Mode to On, Internet Explorer will send all Web sites not already contained in the filter's allow list to Microsoft and then warn users if a site might be dangerous. If you set the filter mode to Off or don't enable this policy setting, Internet Explorer 8 prompts the user to decide whether to use SmartScreen the first time the user runs Internet Explorer 8.

One way to improve the security of SmartScreen is to enable the Administrative Templates \Windows Components\Internet Explorer\Compatibility View\Prevent Bypassing SmartScreen Filter Warnings Group Policy setting. When enabled, Internet Explorer 8 will prevent users from visiting any site that SmartScreen lists as potentially malicious. Users still might find a way around this by using a different Web browser or a mobile device without SmartScreen protection, but enabling the policy does reduce security risks.